


The Bottom of the Pyramid

by incredibly_cold



Series: The Hamfam goes to college [3]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: College AU, Hercules is a football player, Hercules is sweet and innocent and uncertain, Jealousy, Lafayette is a huge flirt, Lafayette is his biggest fan, M/M, Modern AU, i love it, some pretty great insults
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-01 23:41:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6541534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incredibly_cold/pseuds/incredibly_cold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hercules Mulligan is the kind of guy that everyone likes. Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette was also that kind of guy, but in a completely different way. For the guy who was stealing away all his fame, the French kid was strangely likeable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bottom of the Pyramid

**Author's Note:**

> So this one is finally by me again, which is a little weird since there's no pain or suffering. I'm branching out a little. I hope you enjoy the fluff though, and I'm sorry I didn't post it sooner but I got a concussion and I couldn't use a computer for like three days. Actually typing is still agonizing, but whatever. Also my tumblr is incredibly-cold if you want to check me out.

Hercules Mulligan was a bit of a local celebrity. He was one of the star football players, an offensive lineman. He was big and strong and scary looking, and people respected him as soon as they met him. Once they got to know him as a kind and caring person, they even liked him. They liked that he was caring and down to earth, unlike some of his teammates. In a college town like theirs, that was all you needed. He loved the feeling of fondness he got from everyone, and he took some pride in knowing that he was the only one who got it, at least to that degree.

Maybe that's why he hated Lafayette at first. All of the sudden, there was this French kid who didn't even do anything, and everyone was in love with him. Suddenly he was second best, and he didn't like being second best to anyone.

It was nearly two weeks after the foreign student had arrived when he finally met him. He was easy to recognize, far too fashionable to be American. Well, that and he was wearing an American flag baseball cap that was probably meant for a woman, and that no normal American college student would wear. His patriotism was way too intense for someone who was being crushed by debt because of a lack of federal assistance. Hercules approached him, though. He wasn't sure why. He'd already decided he disliked the man, and he really wasn't the kind of guy to seek out a fight. Still, he walked over of his own accord to talk to him.

Before he even had the chance to say anything, the other man was in his face. "You are Hercules Mulligan?" He asked enthusiastically. He displayed a certain lack of understanding for the American concept of personal space. Between the proximity and the look in his brown eyes that verged on adoration, it was enough to catch the football player off guard.

"Uh, yeah? You know me?" It was a real surprise. He'd have thought that Lafayette would be too preoccupied with his popularity to know who anyone was. Especially the star player on the team for a sport that his country didn't even have.

The other man laughed and rested a hand on his chest in an overly familiar way. Maybe things were different in France and he didn't realize that stuff like that was flirtatious. Or at least that it was too familiar for any first meeting. "Of course I know you, you're a football player! I've been wanting to meet you ever since I heard about how you just..." He waved his other hand vaguely in an attempt to explain something he didn't get. "Play offense in a line."

He hated to admit it, but it was kind of endearing. "So you like football?" Hercules didn't feel like shaming him for his lack of knowledge. It was a foreign sport, and at least he knew a position name. It was more than he could say about any French sport.

"I love it! It's so American!" He sighed wistfully.

The hat and his enthusiasm, it was kind of cute. Like a puppy. Mulligan suspected that he had misjudged him. Maybe he wasn't so annoying after all. "Well I always love a football fan." He gave his most genuine smile, forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to dislike the man who was stealing away his local fame. "I don't know your first name, I've just heard people call you Lafayette." He figured he might as well be nice. He was a cool guy, even if he didn't actually do anything outside of being foreign.

"I'm Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, but you can call me Marie." He bounced back a step or two, as though having to introduce himself had made him suddenly recall American space bubbles, and held out his hand for a handshake. "You could also call me Gilbert, but I think that is a funny name here. People laugh at it." For the first time his upbeat disposition faltered. Hercules wondered if he was insulted by the fact that people laughed at him. He decided to use Marie, just in case. He knew he wouldn't be able to use Gilbert with a straight face.

He took the hand and shook it politely. "It's nice to meet you Marie, I've heard a lot of people talking about you. It's not every day we get a student from France here."

That got him a laugh, for some reason. "Yes, I had noticed. People won't leave me alone for five minutes. I can't do anything without being interrupted. It's like I'm some kind of animal at a zoo that people can't stop gawking at."

It was right then that a young woman walked up to them. She was tall, thin, and pretty, and completely uninterested in Hercules. "Marie! How are you?" She greeted him in that annoyingly shrill way that some people liked to do. Usually it didn't annoy him, but since she was so blatantly ignoring him, he was irritated.

"Mon Cher! I am wonderful, how are you?" Marie responded in kind. He grabbed her shoulders and hissed her on either cheek, which Hercules noticed made her blush.

"I'm good!" She giggled.

The frenchman put a hand to his heart dramatically. "Then my wishes have come true. If anything ever is wrong though, come to me." The whole thing was very sweet, and Mulligan was wondering how they knew each other exactly. Certainly they were close. "I am so glad you stopped to talk, maybe next time we can go out for coffee."

The girl's face fell just a little at having their conversation cut so short, but she smiled through it. Probably the idea of actually spending time together cleared up any rudeness on Lafayette's part. "Yeah, okay. I'll see you later!" She waved at him and walked away down the sidewalk, high heels clicking.

There was a moment of silence between them while Hercules tried to figure out how best to get their conversation back on track. "So who was that? Is she a friend of yours? A girlfriend maybe?" He decided to go with the route of congratulating him for doing well with the ladies. That was usually a pretty safe bet.

"I have no idea. I can't remember ever seeing her before in my life. That's what I mean, I'll be glad when the novelty wears off and I only have to remember the people I see regularly. Everyone is very nice, and I don't want to hurt their feelings, but I am overwhelmed with people. All of you talk and act and dress funny to me, and you all have funny names. None of you stand out because all of you stand out." He tightened the bushy ponytail sticking through the back of his hat and sighed. "Except for you, of course. You are very memorable."

It was a weird thing to say, but also very flattering. Somehow it alleviated some of his jealousy knowing that the person stealing all the attention he'd grown used to getting over the past two years was giving him some attention back. "Yeah? I'm glad you think so. Is it because I'm such an all-American football player, or have you heard something else that got your attention?"

"I love football players, but you are by far the most handsome on the team. You are what got my attention." He said it very casually, which again threw Mulligan off. Was he flirting, or did he think that was a normal compliment for one man to give another? As someone who was born and raised in America with little to no knowledge of how European people acted, he wasn't sure. Possibly French etiquette was different than what he was used to.

He didn't really want to be the uncultured one who asked, so he accepted it as a compliment. "Thank you, I'm gonna have to remind the rest of the team about that next time they get too full of themselves." Hercules laughed. "I'm glad we finally met, but I'll let you go. I've got three essays to write, and I'm sure you've got things to do too."

He didn't miss the disappointed hum. "Of course, I will see you later then. Here, put your number in my phone so we don't have to wait until we happen to pass each other again." It was an order, not a request, but Hercules didn't really mind it. Marie handed over his phone and took off his book bag. He rummaged through it while he typed.

At almost the exact same time as he finished, the shorter man straightened up with something in his hand, which he traded for the phone. When Mulligan looked at what he'd just been handed, he was pulled up short again. Surely this wasn't normal, even in France. And they'd just met, what was he trying to imply here? "Why are you giving me condoms?" He finally managed after several seconds of confused silence.

"Because you are hot and an athlete, so you will need them." Lafayette shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Have a nice day, Hercules!" And with no further explanation he turned and walked away, leaving the other man to watch his retreating figure and wonder what this meant. One thing was for sure, the new student was a very interesting character.

* * *

Three days later, Hercules received a text from an unknown number. " _I want to go out and eat, where is good? I'll pay if you want to come._ "

On one hand, he had no idea who was asking him. For all he knew it was someone trying to get ahold of someone else and they had the wrong number. Assuming that they did have the right one, it clearly wasn't one of his close friends, so he had no real desire to spend his limited free time with them. If he didn't respond, then he had no obligation to take them up on their offer. On the other hand, he did have to finish up his last essay, and if he stayed home then he would have no excuse to put it off any longer. " _Who is this?_ " He finally replied after a long debate.

Almost immediately, his phone dinged again. " _It's Marie! I don't all of your American restaurants._ " As soon an he read it, he remembered giving the other man his phone number, and felt a little stupid for not guessing that it was him right away.

" _It depends on what you want. Are you thinking something nice, or something really 'American' and greasy?_ " he shot back. He wasn't really sure if he wanted to go out to eat with Marie. The man had told him that he was very handsome, felt his pecs a little, and given him a handful of condoms last time they saw each other. And that was the first time they'd met, he wasn't sure how he would act upon a second meeting, when things were even less formal.

He was pondering over it when he got his reply. " _American for sure!_ "

Of course, he wasn't sure what he was expecting. Marie was a little obsessed with America, going by how he'd acted the other day. " _In that case, Five Guys is the place to go. It's a little expensive compared to other burger places, but it's not the worst by a long shot and they've got the best burgers and fries._ " If they were going to be going there, he might _have_ to accept. Five Guys was one of his favorite places to go on the rare occasion that he left the house instead of eating a frozen dinner at home. He'd be glad to put up with whatever weird behavior Lafayette would throw at him if it meant a free burger.

" _Are you going with me?_ " It was sweet of him at least to not assume that Hercules was accepting his offer. As forward as he might be, he didn't just assume that the popular handsome football man would drop whatever he might have going on for burgers with someone he barely knew.

He didn't hesitate to type back. " _Hell yeah I'm going with you. It's Five Guys. :D_ " He very rarely included any kind of emoji, but Marie seemed like the kind of guy who would use and enjoy them, so he went for it. Also he didn't want his 'hell yeah' to come off as hostile, and he wasn't sure how well versed a foreigner would be on the subject of swearing for enthusiasm. That was really most of it.

" _Thank you Hercules! <3_" he received a few seconds later.

He considered a moment before adding another text. " _Where do you live? I'll give you a ride over._ " It was only polite, he didn't know much about the other man's transport situation. It was probably safe to assume that he didn't have a driver's licence, since he'd only just moved from France. He probably did have a bike or something, but trying to find a restaurant that he hadn't been to before on a bike would be a hassle, if not hazardous to himself and drivers.

Lafayette texted him and address, and Hercules headed over. He was surprised to find that it took him to an apartment complex, and not even one of the run down ones that some college students had. This was a pretty nice place. He sent a text saying that he'd arrived and waited in one of the parking spaces for the other man. Sure enough, a minute later Lafayette was walking down the sidewalk toward him. He was impeccably dressed again, though this time he wasn't wearing his star spangled baseball cap with the red and white striped bill. The hat had been cute, but he looked better without it, or at least less comical.

"I am so glad this worked out, I feel like I have eaten nothing but that cup ramen or McDonald's since I arrived." The French accent that he'd kind of forgotten while they were texting was so strong, and it sounded so funny when he was complaining for some reason. He didn't point that out though, since people were apparently fawning over that too much.

Instead he decided to comment on the apartment. "So this place is nice. Like, really nice. How do you afford this as an unemployed college student?" He hoped that it didn't come across as rude but he really was baffled. Hercules was a part of a fraternity, so he wasn't exactly one to talk, but he got a lot of money for football. As far as he knew, Marie wasn't on scholarship.

The other man raised his eyebrows. Apparently he hadn't given much thought to the subject of how nice his apartment was. "Oh, my parents pay for it. We are very rich, my family. That's why I came to school in America, so I can improve my English and learn how to behave with American business men. I am supposedly 'too personal' or something. My parents are very concerned that the company will fall apart when I take over." He explained, incidentally giving a perfect example of his being too personal. He could certainly see where they might be worried.

I can't imagine why." He said, through a laugh.

Marie laughed too, which was nice. He could easily have seen the other man getting offended by that. "Yes, they have reason for fear. I just don't understand why people feel the need to hide everything. Why shouldn't you know? I'm being honest, it makes me more likeable. Tell me, do you feel like you could tell me anything about yourself without judgement?"

Hercules hadn't considered telling him anything yet, because they didn't know each other. Now that the question had been posed, however, he could see where he was coming from. He rarely told anyone that he liked to sew and design clothes, but he wouldn't be remotely concerned about Lafayette knowing this more secretive aspect of his life. "I guess I do." He finally answered, though uncertainly. The implications behind what the other man was saying we're pretty awful. "Are you telling that you over share to trick people into trusting you? Because if you are and I'm not misunderstanding this, then that's pretty fucked up."

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all!" The shorter man protested as they pulled out of the parking lot. "Or it is what I'm saying, but not in that way. I want people to trust me, and telling people a lot about myself is a good way to get them to do that, but I wouldn't ever use it against them. I want to be friends with everyone, or at least friendly."

The funny thing was, he believed him. Believing him and letting him know that he believed him were two different things though. "Sure you do. I'll keep this in mind next time you try to get all 'friendly' by giving me a bunch of condoms. You are one sneaky son of a bitch."

He was watching the road, so he couldn't see Marie's face, but he could hear him spluttering indignantly. "I am not trying to get anything out of you, Hercules! I want to be friends. I would not betray the trust of a friend for anything in the world!"

"Alright, alright, I believe you." He conceded, only because he would feel mean if he continued his charade. "But you _are_ still trying to befriend me on the basis of my being a football player without any knowledge of my personality. That's still pretty shallow of you."

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Lafayette slouch further down in his seat. "I wanted to befriend you above the others because everyone raves about what a wonderful person you are, but clearly they are wrong. All I wanted to do was get dinner and make new friends, but you can't even allow me that much without attacking my personality. You are a very rude man."

It was stupid, but that did make him feel bad. He'd been going for friendly teasing, not insulting. He should have known when to stop. Normally he probably would have known, but the resentment that he felt toward Marie was clouding his judgement and making him harsher than he normally would be. "You're right, I'm sorry. I was trying to tease you, but I started being mean. I guess I don't like sharing fame." He said it outright because the other man had already guaranteed that he'd never use such a secret against him, and telling him seemed like a good gesture of faith. "You seem like a nice guy, and people like you better than me. I feel a little threatened."

There was a gasp from beside him that sounded so horrified he was worried for his driving. Luckily, it was in regard to what he was saying, not some person in his blind spot that he was about to hit. "That is ridiculous, I don't do anything! I could never overshadow someone like you!" He sounded truly scandalized about this new information.

"Well, you are interesting, foreign, and cute. People like all of those." They pulled into the parking lot and he had a sudden realization. "Hey you aren't allergic to peanuts, are you? Because if so then you'll probably die if we eat here."

He was still looking at the restaurant until he was distracted by the hand that grabbed his arm. He looked up to see if Marie was alright, and was met with a pair of dark eyes, which were staring at him in a weirdly intense way. "No Hercules, I can eat anything." He murmured, low and smooth.

It was one of those things that he wanted to overlook as a normal interaction, but this was a little too far for that. There was no way that could have been meant nonsexually. The only question was if it was some kind of joke or if the other man was genuinely hitting on him. He felt like he should address it, if only to establish some boundaries. Still, they barely knew each other, and they were about to eat some burgers. Free burgers, for Hercules. "Well good, because it would ruin the night if we went out to eat and you died because I forgot to tell you there were peanuts everywhere." He finally stammered. Sometimes completely ignoring the subject at hand was the best course of action. He gently pulled his arm away and got out of the car. He hoped that the frenchman would follow.

When Marie got out of the car and straightened his jacket, he was grinning from ear to ear. "Yes, I'm sure it would."

They went inside and ordered, and Hercules discovered another interesting trait of his new acquaintance. A rather disgusting trait. It happened when he grabbed the wrong cup off the table and drank some of Lafayette's drink. Normally he wasn't all that particular about what kind of soda he drank, but he gagged on the mouthful of flavorless club soda. Since when was that even a drink that a person could get at any self respecting burger joint? It was those fancy new drink machines, damn them. "What the hell are you drinking?" He spluttered in his disgust.

"Club soda. I would prefer mineral water, but Americans never have mineral water anywhere. It'll have to do." He offered, his ever present mischievous grin still on his face. "Why, don't you like it?"

It was appalling. Europeans and their horrible taste, expecting normal people to enjoy their flavorless soda bullshit. "Frankly it's one of the most horrible things I've ever tasted, and I am offended just by having such a disgusting beverage at the same table as me." He told him, perhaps a little bit over the top. Well, definitely over the top. He still felt that it comfortably matched his friend though.

He laughed loudly and continued to eat his Cajun fries, which he had gotten in favor of regular fries at Hercules' recommendation. Another thing he noticed was that he almost never stopped talking. He went on and on about the fries, and his burger, and how much he loved being in America. He talked about how interesting it was seeing all the big trucks and old junky cars. It took some effort not to get a little offended, since he'd just driven them here in an arguably old and junky car. Still, he had a certain cluelessness to him that gave him a free pass. From what he said, he was used to only small cars that were new or well kept.

They had a nice conversation together, even if it was mostly one-sided. Things were going really well until a group of students came in and ran over to their table. Hercules braced himself for some drunk and obnoxious students who were eager to talk to him, but they didn't start talking to him. Instead, they focused their attention on Marie. The good mood he had slipped into disappeared, and he spent the rest of the meal in sullen silence while he was completely ignored. He was thankful, but still horribly annoyed, when they finally left to order their own food.

"Are you ready to go?" He growled, drawing his dinner companion's attention back to him, finally. He looked genuinely taken aback by his tone, and Hercules couldn't even bring himself to feel bad about it. This whole thing had gone downhill fast, and he no longer cared about the other man's feelings.

Despite his shortcomings in the area of sharing attention, he at least had the decency not to question him in the middle of the restaurant. He slid off of his tall stool and nodded. "Yes, it was wonderful. You knew what you were talking about when you recommended this place." His tone was lighter, and his flamboyant personality more subdued than it had been so far.

He got up too, and threw their trash away. He didn't wait to see if Marie was following him when he went outside. Most likely he would be and if not then one of the other students could take him home. He knew it was stupid to be so upset. Even as he was reacting, he knew that he was being ridiculous. No one had actually done anything to him, they just weren't paying attention to him. He was behaving like a toddler who was jealous of their new sibling. Knowing that it was unjustified only served to frustrate him more though. He got into the car without a word, and made sure not to slam the door behind him. A couple of seconds later, Lafayette joined him.

"Are you okay?" He asked in that innocent French accent that was really starting to grate on Hercules.

"Fine." He answered shortly.

He'd have probably been fine and able to hold it together if they'd left it at that, but of course, Marie wanted to know everything about everyone. 'Fine' was not a satisfactory answer. "You are upset, why? Have I done something to offend you?" He inquired with such sweetness and so much concern that it was sickening.

"No, you haven't done _anything_." He put emphasis on the last word and hoped the other man would understand it. "You just waltzed in here, and everyone loved you. You didn't train, didn't compete, didn't keep your grades up for scholarships, didn't do anything at all. You just let your rich family send you over so that everyone could fall in love with you even though you're just some useless fucking baguette."

There were several seconds of silence while Marie was too flabbergasted to say anything, and he started the car to pull out of the parking lot. Finally he recovered from the insult enough to speak, though not without some confused spluttering first. "Well at least I'm nice to people, you incompetent dinner roll!" He shot back, with an expression of pure rage.

It was such an absurd insult, that Hercules couldn't help but laugh. Once he started laughing, he couldn't stop. The whole situation was so ridiculous, and now the foreign kid had called him a dinner roll, as if that was a viable insult. He was glad the car was still stationary, because there were tears in his eyes, and he was gasping for air. Even Lafayette was smiling uncertainly.

"You called me a dinner roll!" He finally choked out.

Lafayette watched him with a slightly indignant look on his face. "You called me a baguette, I thought we were doing bread insults. I assumed it was an American thing."

"Well, bread insults are not an American thing, for future reference, that was just the only French thing I could think of." He let out a long sigh, finally starting to recover from his laughing fit. His lungs burned. "Look, I'm sorry for blowing up at you, it was childish. You really are a nice person, and I was having a really good time until those other people showed up. If you still want to be friends after I've been a dick to you, then I'd love to be your handsome, football player friend."

Marie smiled at him again. "Then I will be your cute foreign friend."

* * *

Hercules got to be pretty close to the man he'd assumed he hated over the course of the semester. He learned that Marie was an actual freshman, which made him two years younger. He wouldn't have guessed it because the younger man was so confident and comfortable with himself, but he really was. He also learned that he got along really well with his friend John, to the point where the two of them had some kind of secret that Hercules wasn't allowed to know about, which irked him a little.

Lafayette had used their friendship very cleverly to get himself in good standing with the entire football team. At some point he just started hanging out in the locker room before and after games. He never asked, so no one had told him that it was technically not allowed, and once he started doing it, no one had the heart to tell him to get out. He became sort of like their bonus cheerleader. Hercules was still entirely convinced that he had no idea how football worked, and that he just watched it for the sake of doing something American. He didn't object though, he was a fun guy to have around. Better in some ways than any of his other friends, though he would never say that to any of them, especially John.

Another thing he learned, was that Marie was very enthusiastic about LGBT rights and sexual education. The condom thing that happened when they first met was actually standard practice for him. The entire front compartment of his book bag was filled with condoms to hand out to people. He had fun colors and even flavored ones, and sometimes he even gave people lectures about proper safety when having sex. It stopped being a surprise when he would get into heated arguments with people over the rights of any gender or sexuality.

It was immediately after one of their practices, and most of the team had already showered. All that was left was he and Lafayette, and Travis and Connor. He already knew that was a bad setup as soon as he noticed the other two were still there, but he figured nothing too bad could happen as long as they didn't talk to each other. He was dead wrong.

Travis was the conservative christian asshole guy who couldn't keep his mouth shut. Every team had one, and most of the time no one bothered to argue. In the world of sports, the idea of accepting gay people was fairly new, and people let assholes be assholes. Connor especially let him be an asshole because he was too shy to openly disagree with anyone about anything, he just agreed and kept his head down and didn't voice his own opinion. It was hard to know his real stance on any LGBT issues, but if Travis said something offensive, he was sure to quietly go along with it.

They were talking pretty quietly, enough so that even if they were saying anything that was likely to set Marie off, it wasn't audible over their own conversation. At least until Travis laughed louder. "Nah, Hercules isn't no fag, even if he hangs out with one. He's got more self respect than that."

The exact moment that he started talking, Hercules knew something was about to go wrong. This was a bit worse than even he was anticipating though, and he turned to face the other two men in shock and rage. He wasn't as enthusiastic as Marie, but he was still pissed. Connor at least had the dignity to look horrified and ashamed at what Travis had said.

A second passed without a word from his friend standing above him, and he looked over in concern, only to have his face forcibly grabbed. Before he was entirely sure what was going on, Lafayette's fulls lips were on his own, and he was being pushed to lean back a little. He was sitting on the bench putting his shoes on, so his friend who was usually a little shorter was leaning down into the kiss, and he was trying to do it without snapping Hercules' neck. He registered this as an attempt at being polite, which was kind of negated by the fact that he was just swooping in and kissing him without permission. All thought about this whole thing being a little rude fled his mind when Marie deepened the kiss, and he forgot how to think. It was no surprise that the other man was a good kisser. His lips were soft, and he certainly knew what he was doing. Even though a part of him knew he should be opposed to this weird display, he found himself kissing back.

All too soon, Marie was leaning back away, and it was probably a good thing because he needed to breathe. He didn't miss the apologetic look in his friend's eyes, as he knelt and helped him tie his shoes, smiling all the while, and placing a soft hand on his knee. "Let's go, fleur chérie." He crooned, loudly enough for both of the other men to hear him.

Hercules obligingly took his hand and grabbed his backpack, allowing himself a glance at his teammates. Both looked as stunned as he felt, but he flashed them his biggest smile, and walked hand in hand out of the locker room with Lafayette. 

As soon as they were out of sight, Marie dropped his hand, though he waited a few more seconds to be out of earshot before he said anything out loud. "I am so sorry about that, I just couldn't let him say something so awful. There wasn't time to ask, so I just went for it. I knew you wouldn't be angry." He explained. One thing that set him apart from any other person he knew was that he didn't even look mildly embarrassed about it, just apologetic.

"It's fine, I'm not-" He wasn't sure how to finish the sentence, so he tried changing the subject. "You're a really good kisser. Incredible, actually. I really wasn't expecting- Anyway, there's no need to apologize." He stammered, growing more and more flustered with every passing moment. "How did you know I wouldn't get mad?" He finally managed.

Lafayette was looking at him with that shit-eating grin that he got sometimes. "Because you are a reasonable man Hercules. Reasonable men do not jump to rage when a person they know and trust does something unexplained. They wait for a reason, and then react however they will. You know how I feel about people saying things like that, so I figured you would.." He sighed in irritation as he tried to think of the right phrase. "Let it slide."

Hercules let out a nervous laugh. "Well, anytime you want to make out with me to prove a point, please go ahead." 

"No sir, I consider myself a gentleman. I would have to take you out to dinner before I did anything else." Marie met his remark with equal boldness. Not exactly bold for him, but his confident and knowing smile offered a bit more to the statement.

He felt ridiculous and childish again as he giggled. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Are you accepting?" Marie watched him with those eager doe eyes that he'd always thought were cute, but hadn't really put much consideration into looking at before.

He could only think of one word that was appropriate for accepting such an offer from a person like Lafayette. "Oui." He nodded.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a very vague bread reference, I hope you noticed. Because bread insults are very American.


End file.
